An analytical look at what we've learned about the Missouri Valley Conference in the first two months of the season and how the conference race shapes up as league play begins Dec. 28:

Teams that will matter

Creighton. With All-American candidate Doug McDermott (more on him below) leading the charge, the Bluejays are one of the most efficient offensive teams in the country. Creighton (10-1) leads the nation in effective field goal percentage (a statistic that more heavily weights made 3-pointers, because those makes are worth more on the scoreboard than a 2-point basket) at 59.4 percent, according to kenpom.com.

If not for a road loss at surprisingly good St. Joseph’s, the Bluejays would be undefeated heading into the Valley season. That doesn’t mean they’ll cruise through the conference, though. This is as good as the Valley has been since the 2005-06 season, when four teams reached the NCAA Tournament.

Wichita State. Coach Gregg Marshall’s Shockers are a balanced squad that gets after it defensively. Five players — Toure’ Murray, Joe Ragland, Ben Smith, Garrett Stutz and David Kyles — average between 10.5 and 12.4 points per game, and big man Carl Hall chips in with 9.4 per game on 55.3 percent shooting from the field.

Defensively, the Shockers’ efficiency rating of 90.9 on kenpom.com ranks 28th in the country. Wichita State (9-2) does an especially good job guarding the perimeter, holding opponents to 26.8 percent shooting from beyond the arc. The Shockers dropped a couple of games in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off — to Alabama and in overtime to Temple, two likely NCAA Tournament teams — but scored a huge resume victory with a dominating 89-70 win against a UNLV squad that has impressive wins against North Carolina, Illinois and Cal.

Northern Iowa. The Panthers are the undisputed kings of Iowa (again), with wins over Iowa State and Iowa already in the books. Northern Iowa is 10-2, but it will need a strong showing in the Valley to make the NCAA Tournament, though, because they were stomped in a couple of games against fellow solid mid-major teams St. Mary’s and Ohio. Anthony James, the Panthers’ leading scorer, is the player most likely to carry the team on his back — see his 22 points vs. Providence and 28 vs. Colorado State — but he also has had a couple games in single-digit scoring.

Indiana State. The school that will forever be known as Larry Bird’s alma mater owns one of the season’s more surprising upsets, a 61-55 victory on the road against a Vanderbilt team that had all three of its star players in the lineup. As is often the case with teams in the Valley, the Sycamores are a balanced squad, with five players—Dwayne Lathan, Carl Richard, Jordan Printy, Jake Odom and Myles Walker—averaging between 8.6 and 10.6 points per game. With an unsightly loss to Boise State on the resume, the Sycamores figure to need a couple victories against the top three schools in the Valley to get the NCAA Tournament committee to take notice.

Player you need to know

Doug McDermott, Creighton. The season McDermott is putting together is nothing short of amazing. The 6-7 sophomore who was a high school teammate of North Carolina All-American forward Harrison Barnes is shooting 65.2 percent from 2-point range (86-for-132), 85.3 percent from the free-throw line (29-for-34) and 57.8 percent from beyond the 3-point arc (26-for-35). As a freshman, McDermott averaged 14.9 points per game; this year he’s up to 25.4, which isn’t surprising at all considering his shooting numbers.

Now, for a couple more in-depth stats: McDermott is taking 37.1 percent of Creighton’s shots and doing so with remarkable success. His kenpom.com offensive rating of 129.8 is second in the country among players with at least a 28 percent possession usage (where the player ends a possession with a made shot, a turnover or a missed shot that results in a defensive rebound). Basically, he is Creighton’s offense, and he is why Creighton’s offense is very, very good. And he’s a lock to win the Valley’s player of the year award.